We’re doing a very short rehearsal in the same area as our welcome party. The rehearsal is for our bridal party and officiant only (no separate rehearsal dinner) and no parents are involved in the procession. Nobody is doing anything more than walking or standing besides my FI and I and our officiant. Since we’re doing a domestic destination wedding, the welcome party is open to any guests who are in the area that day. There’ll be drinks, light apps, and desserts.

How does this type of thing work? How much time would this type of rehearsal take? 30 mins? 1 hr? Trying to figure out if we should schedule our rehearsal for 3:30 or 3:45 and our welcome party at 4? or schedule rehearsal for 3:30 or 4 and welcome party for 4:30?

Also how long do you think a welcome party should be? 1 hr? 1.5 hrs? 2 hrs? We’re paying for it ourselves, so we’re trying to do what works best and is nice for guests w/o breaking the bank. Ppl can continue to hang out in the space after the open bar is over, but they’d need to pay for any drinks/food on their own.

our officiant did not attend the rehearsal. i led the rehearsal. DH and I (well mostly me) showed the parents and the wedding party the order in which they walk in and where they stand. and then the order in which they walk out for the processional.

we ran through it a few times. probably took 15-20 minutes.

we then had a rehearsal dinner afterwards, our was probably 3 hours. but i would say 1-2 would suffice for what you need.

My rehearsal was almost an hour, but we had a Catholic ceremony, 3 readers, practiced reading our vows, and a long processional. Our priest led the rehearsal.

Our Rehearsal dinner was 3 hours long. I think 1 hour is too short, because some people are inevitably up to 20-30 minutes late. If you only have an hour, I don’t think there is time for light apps & dessert. I’d choose one or the other.

To give more detail, our processional and ceremony are both short. Guys will be waiting up front. Only Bridesmaids and I will walk down the aisle. No readings, no songs outside of processional, no acknowledgements etc. so it’s really just officiant welcoming, vows, rings, and a short meaningful thing that only involves the 2 of us for 5 minutes. We’re aiming for 15-20 mins total.